Method and system for determining the altitude of a mobile wireless device

ABSTRACT

A method and system for determining the three-dimensional location of a mobile wireless device. In one implementation, the device is a cellular telephone making a 911 call from one floor of a multi-story building. An embodiment of the method of the invention includes establishing a database that associates transmission metrics with altitudes of x-y coordinate locations having more than one altitude at which the mobile wireless device could be located, receiving a communication from the mobile wireless device, determining an x-y coordinate location of the mobile wireless device, measuring a transmission metric of the mobile wireless device, and consulting the database to determine the altitude from the x-y coordinate location and the measured transmission metric. The transmission metric could be, for example, the transmission time or angle of arrival of a wireless signal received from the mobile wireless device.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to determining the location of amobile wireless device, and more particularly, to determining thealtitude of a wireless telephone caller with respect to a particular x-ycoordinate location.

2. Background of the Invention

When a 911 emergency center receives a call, the ability to accuratelylocate the caller can dramatically affect the degree of successemergency personnel have in responding to the need for help. Dispatchingthe emergency personnel to the correct location is crucial toadministering help as quickly as possible. When a person dials 911 froma traditional wireline telephone, the emergency center identifies thenumber of the wireline telephone and cross-references that number withan address database to determine the location of the wireline telephone,and thus the location of the caller.

Wireless telephones, however, are not fixed in a single location andtherefore are not associated with any particular address. Thus, withouta means for determining the location of the mobile wireless telephone,the emergency center must rely on the caller's knowledge andcommunication of her location, which often leads to errors. Theinability to determine the location of a wireless caller is compoundedby the fact that an increasing number of 911 calls are coming fromwireless telephones. Indeed, studies indicate that approximately 45million Americans made 911 calls from wireless telephones in the year2000. In some areas, wireless 911 telephone calls account for fifty toseventy percent of the call volume coming into public centers.

Recognizing the need to automatically determine the location of wirelesstelephone callers, in 1996, the Federal Communications Commissionrequired wireless network operators to have the ability to determine thelocation of wireless 911 callers by October 2001. As a result, wirelessoperators have developed what are generally referred to as enhanced 911,or E911, services. These services typically identify the latitude andlongitude (i.e., x and y coordinates) of a wireless device that ismaking a 911 call.

E911 services help ensure that wireless telephones provide 911 callcenters, or Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), with the vitalinformation necessary to locate and identify a caller in an emergency.The E911 standards promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) require wireless network providers to track the location andidentity information of all wireless callers, with the purpose ofproviding such information to emergency personnel when a caller dials911 from a wireless telephone.

Under the FCC rules, wireless networks and the corresponding wirelesshandheld devices, such as cellular telephones, will provide both theidentity and location of the caller to a 911 dispatcher. To provide acaller's identity, the wireless handheld device will furnish a deviceidentification, e.g., a mobile identification number (MIN), indicatingin most instances the telephone number of the device. The wirelessnetwork and wireless handheld devices will provide the location ofcallers using a network-based location system (e.g., triangulation),global positioning systems (GPSs) within the handheld devices, or acombination of the two systems.

When conventional E911 systems provide only a longitude and latitude fora wireless device, the systems assume that a device could be found atonly one possible altitude of that location. Thus, for example, givenx-y coordinates corresponding to a soccer field, emergency responderscan assume that the wireless device is on the soccer field at thereported x-y coordinates. As another example, given x-y coordinatescorresponding to a single-level highway, emergency responders can assumethat the wireless device is on the highway at the reported x-ycoordinates.

In many situations, however, buildings and irregular topography provideseveral different altitudes or elevations at which the wireless devicecould be located on the same x-y coordinates. For example, in askyscraper, the same x-y coordinates could correspond to a devicelocated on the first floor or the eightieth floor. An emergencyresponder arriving at the skyscraper, knowing only the x-y coordinates,would therefore be unable to quickly determine on which floor theemergency is occurring.

FIG. 1 illustrates this skyscraper problem, in which a coordinate X,Ywithin the footprint of building 100 is reported by the E911 locationservice. That particular coordinate X,Y could correspond to a deviceanywhere along the axis Z for the entire height H of building 100. Thus,the taller building 100 is, the more difficult it is to determine theexact location (i.e., altitude) of the calling wireless device.

As another example, on an interchange between major highways, severalroads and ramps may pass under and over each other. The same x-ycoordinates could correspond to a device located, for example, on thelowest road or a bridge passing high above. Knowing only the x-ycoordinates, an emergency responder would have to guess on which roadthe emergency is occurring.

FIG. 2 illustrates this situation, in which a first road 200 passesunderneath a second road 202. A particular coordinate X1,Y1 is reportedby the E911 location service. However, as shown, that particularcoordinate X1,Y1 could correspond to a point on road 200 at a firstaltitude A1 or to a point on road 202 above at a second altitude A2.Thus, knowing only the coordinate X1,Y1, an emergency dispatcher doesnot know whether to send responders to road 200 or road 202.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method and system for determining thethree-dimensional location of a mobile wireless device. Given an x-ycoordinate location of a mobile wireless device, the present inventiondetermines the altitude at which the mobile wireless device is located.In this manner, the present invention provides a more accurate locationdetermination in situations in which a mobile wireless device could befound at different altitudes on the same x-y coordinates. This enhancedlocation method can therefore significantly improve the ability ofemergency personnel to quickly locate and reach wireless telephonecallers in need of help.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determiningthe altitude of a mobile wireless device that includes establishing adatabase that associates transmission metrics with altitudes of x-ycoordinate locations having more than one altitude at which the mobilewireless device could be located, receiving a communication from themobile wireless device, determining an x-y coordinate location of themobile wireless device, measuring a transmission metric of the mobilewireless device, and consulting the database to determine the altitudefrom the x-y coordinate location and the measured transmission metric.The x-y coordinate location can be determined by, for example, a globalpositioning system, signal attenuation, angle of arrival (AOA), time ofarrival (TOA), time difference of arrival (TDOA), enhanced observed timeof arrival (E-OTD), time advance (TA), or a combination of any of theforegoing. The transmission metric could be, for example, the time awireless signal takes to travel from the mobile wireless device to afixed wireless signal receiver and/or the angle of arrival of a wirelesssignal from the mobile wireless device. Optionally, the transmissionmetric is measured from more than one wireless signal receiver.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a system fordetermining the altitude of a mobile wireless device that includes awireless signal receiver, a location system, a database, and aprocessor. The wireless signal receiver is in communication with themobile wireless device. The location system is adapted to determine anx-y coordinate location of the mobile wireless device. The databasecontains x-y coordinates at which the mobile wireless device could belocated at more than one altitude. The database also associates possiblealtitudes with each x-y coordinate location and associates a value of atransmission metric with each possible altitude. The transmission metricrelates to a wireless signal received by the wireless signal receiverfrom the mobile wireless device. The processor is adapted to receive acurrent x-y coordinate location of the mobile wireless device from thelocation system, to measure a current value of the transmission metric,and to retrieve an altitude associated with the current x-y coordinatelocation and the current value from the database.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the various altitudes atwhich a wireless device could be located inside a building for aparticular x-y coordinate location.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating two different altitudes atwhich a wireless device could be located at a highway interchange for aparticular x-y coordinate location.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary system fordetermining the altitude of a wireless device, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart outlining an exemplary method for determining thealtitude of a mobile wireless device, according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the measurement oftransmission time for different possible altitudes, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the measurement oftransmission angle of arrival for two possible altitudes of a mobilewireless device at a building, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 7 is a table illustrating associations between x-y coordinates,altitudes, transmission metrics, and descriptions, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for determiningaltitude using more than one transmission metric, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for determiningaltitude using more than one wireless signal receiver, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides the three-dimensional location of amobile wireless device. Given a particular x-y coordinate location fromwhich a mobile wireless device is transmitting, the present inventionprovides the altitude of the device. Optionally, the present inventionalso provides a description that correlates the altitude with thephysical structure or topography of the x-y coordinate location.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary system 300 for determining thethree-dimensional location of a wireless device, according to anembodiment of the present invention. As shown, system 300 includes aplurality of mobile wireless devices 302, a wireless service provider304, and a location requestor 306.

Mobile wireless devices 302 include any communication device supportedby wireless service provider 304. Common examples of wireless devicesinclude cellular telephones, cellular telephones with text messagingcapabilities, wireless personal digital assistants (PDAs), andinteractive text pagers. A mobile wireless device 302 can include amobile location system 308, which determines the x-y coordinates of thedevice 302. As an example, mobile location system 308 could be a globalpositioning system.

Wireless service provider 304 provides the communications network thatsupports the plurality of mobile wireless devices 302. In thisembodiment, wireless service provider 304 also includes one or morenetwork-based location systems 310 and an altitude processor 312.Network-based location systems 310 provide the x-y coordinates of mobilewireless devices 302, and can use technologies such as signalattenuation, angle of arrival, time of arrival, time difference ofarrival, enhanced observed time of arrival, time advance, and globalpositioning systems (e.g., GPS systems in which network componentsreceive raw GPS data from mobile devices and calculate exact locationsfrom the data). Altitude processor 312 determines the altitude orelevation of a mobile wireless device 302, given the x-y coordinates ofthe device. This determination is based on the time it takes for awireless signal to travel from the wireless device 302 to a wirelesssignal receiver of wireless service provider 302 and/or on the angle atwhich the signal arrives at the wireless signal receiver. Knowing thetime or angle, altitude processor 312 consults an altitude database 314to retrieve an associated altitude and, optionally, a description of thealtitude.

Although FIG. 3 shows network-based location systems 310 and altitudeprocessor 312 as part of wireless service provider 304, one of ordinaryskill in the art would appreciate that these components could beseparate from wireless service provider 304, for example, as a part of alocation service provider.

Location requestor 306 is the entity that is requesting thethree-dimensional location of a wireless device. For example, in anemergency, location requestor 306 would be a 911 emergency call center,also known as a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). As anotherexample, location requestor 306 could be a retail store that occupiesseveral floors of a building and desires the ability to track thelocation of customers among the several floors.

When a mobile wireless device 302 is in operation, wireless serviceprovider 304 tracks the location and identity of the device. Each of theplurality of mobile wireless devices 302 provides wireless serviceprovider 304 with its identities, typically as a mobile identificationnumber (MIN). For tracking location and providing x-y coordinates,system 300 could have individual location systems 308 in mobile wirelessdevices 302, could have a network-based location system 310 as part ofwireless service provider 304, or could use a combination of bothsystems 308 and 310. As an example, a typical network-based locationsystem would be a system that calculates triangulation across cell sitesor cell sectors. A typical example of a suitable individual locationsystem would be a global positioning system.

With continuing reference to FIG. 3, FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplarymethod for determining the altitude of a mobile wireless device,according to an embodiment of the present invention. This exemplarymethod encompasses two phases: an altitude database creation phase 400and an altitude determination phase 402. In the altitude databasecreation phase 400, transmission metric data is collected for x-ycoordinate locations having more than one possible altitude and isstored in a database that correlates the transmission metric data to thedifferent altitudes of the x-y coordinate locations. As an example, thisphase could involve a technician visiting a multi-story building,collecting transmission metric data for each level of the building, andentering the data in a database. In the altitude determination phase402, a wireless service provider receives the x-y coordinate location ofa communicating mobile wireless device, measures a transmission metricof the communicating mobile wireless device, and consults the databaseto determine the altitude of the device.

As shown in FIG. 4, the method begins at step 410 of altitude databasecreation phase 400 with the identification of x-y coordinates that havemore than one possible altitude at which a wireless device could belocated. Such x-y coordinates could correspond to, for example,multi-story buildings, highway interchanges, stadiums, and multi-levelparking garages.

Having identified x-y coordinates with multiple possible altitudes, themethod continues in step 412 by determining a wireless signaltransmission metric associated with each possible altitude (i.e., eachpossible z coordinate). In one embodiment, this transmission metric isthe time that a wireless signal takes to travel from the mobile wirelessdevice 302 at the x-y-z location to the wireless signal receiver of thenetwork of wireless service provider 304. In another embodiment, thistransmission metric is the angle of arrival of the wireless signal atthe wireless signal receiver.

FIG. 5 illustrates the measurement of transmission time for differentpossible altitudes. As shown, this example includes a wireless signalreceiver 500 on a cellular tower 502. Wireless signal receiver 500 is incommunication with an altitude database 504, which corresponds todatabase 314 of FIG. 3. Altitude database 504 could reside in a mobileswitching center of the network of wireless service provider 304.

FIG. 5 illustrates two examples of x-y coordinates from which a mobilewireless device could transmit from different altitudes. In the firstexample, the intersection of highways 506 and 508 at coordinates X2,Y2shows two altitudes Z2 and Z2′ at which a mobile wireless device couldbe located. Altitude Z2 corresponds to highway 506, while altitude Z2′corresponds to highway 503. Because the distance between wireless signalreceiver 500 and altitude Z2 differs from the distance between wirelesssignal receiver 500 and Z2′, the measured transmission times alsodiffer, as represented by time T2 and T2′. In other words, a wirelesssignal from a mobile wireless device 302 located on highway 506 atcoordinates X2,Y2,Z2 takes time T2 to travel to wireless signal receiver500. A mobile wireless device 302 located on highway 508 at coordinatesX2,Y2,Z2′ takes time T2′ to travel to wireless signal receiver 500.

In the second example, a multi-story building 510 is located atcoordinates X3,Y3, which includes several floors on which a mobilewireless device could be located. Altitude Z3 corresponds to the secondfloor, while altitude Z3′ corresponds to the eightieth floor. Again,because the distance between wireless signal receiver 500 and altitudeZ3 differs from the distance between wireless signal receiver 500 andaltitude Z3′, the measured transmission times also differ, asrepresented by time T3 and T3′. Thus, a wireless signal from a mobilewireless device 302 located on the second floor of building 510 atcoordinates X2,Y2,Z3 takes time T3 to travel to wireless signal receiver500. A wireless signal from a mobile wireless device 302 located on theeightieth floor of building 510 at coordinates X2,Y2,Z3′ takes time T3′to travel to wireless signal receiver 500.

To measure transmission time, a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention uses the time-division multiple access (TDMA) digital cellularsystem. This system tracks the time that wireless signals take intraveling from handsets to mobile stations. As another option, theTDMA-based Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) digitalcellular system could be used, which also tracks transmission timesbetween handsets and mobile stations.

As another example of a transmission metric, FIG. 6 illustrates themeasurement of transmission angle of arrival for two different possiblealtitudes Z4 and Z4′ at a building 600 located at coordinates X4,Y4.Altitude Z4 corresponds to the fifth floor of building 600, whilealtitude Z4′ corresponds to the fortieth floor. As shown, this exampleincludes a wireless signal receiver 600 on a cellular tower 602. Tomeasure signal angles, wireless signal receiver 600 includes adirectional antenna, such as a phased array of two or more antennaelements. Wireless signal receiver 600 is in communication with analtitude database 604, which corresponds to database 314 of FIG. 3.Altitude database 604 could reside in a mobile switching center of thenetwork of wireless service provider 304.

As shown in FIG. 6, the measured angle of arrival differs for eachaltitude Z4 and Z4′. Thus, wireless signal receiver 600 receives asignal from a mobile wireless device 302 located at X4,Y4,Z4 at an angleθ, and receives a signal from a mobile wireless device 302 located atX4,Y4,Z4′ at an angle θ′. In this example, the angle of arrival ismeasured with respect to a horizontal axis 606.

As with transmission times, the TDMA and GSM digital cellular systemscan also be used to measure angle of arrival. Indeed, using TDMA and GSMsystems to determine both transmission times and also angles of arrivalenables more accurate altitude determinations, as described in moredetail below in reference to FIG. 8.

Returning to FIG. 4, with the transmission metric measured, the methodcontinues in step 414 by storing the altitudes and metrics associatedwith each x-y coordinate location. These associations are stored inaltitude database 314. Specifically, each x-y coordinate location isassociated with all of its possible altitudes, and with a transmissionmetric for each of the possible altitudes. Thus, for the highway exampleof FIG. 5, coordinate X2,Y2 would be associated with altitudes Z2 andZ2′. In turn, altitude Z2 would be associated with T2 and altitude Z2′would be associated with T2′.

Optionally, altitude database 314 could also include a description ofthe altitude that would help a person understand the location. Forexample, the description “Interstate 95” could be associated withaltitude Z2 to describe highway 506.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example table 700 of the associations stored inaltitude database 314. In column 702, the x-y coordinate entries(X2,Y2), (X3,Y3), and (X4,Y4) correspond to the examples shown in FIGS.5 and 6. Column 704 lists the possible altitudes at which a mobilewireless device 302 could be found at each of these locations. Column706 lists the transmission metric associated with each altitude, such asa time of transmission of a wireless signal or an angle of arrival of awireless signal. Finally, column 708 lists a common name or descriptionthat gives an ordinary meaning to the altitude. For example, altitude Z3at coordinates X3,Y3 is described as the second floor of the building.

With altitude database 314 populated, the altitude database creationphase 400 is complete, as shown in FIG. 4. The exemplary methodcontinues in the altitude determination phase 402. In this phase,wireless signal provider 304 receives a communication from a mobilewireless device 302 and determines the three-dimensional location of themobile wireless device 302 based on the altitude data collected in phase400.

The altitude determination phase 402 begins in step 416 when acommunication is received from a mobile wireless device 302 for whichthree-dimensional location information is desired. In this example,location requestor 306 is the entity that desires the locationinformation. As an example, the communication could be a 911 call from awireless telephone (mobile wireless device 302), and location requestor306 could be a Public Safety Answering Point.

Once the communication is in progress, the method continues bydetermining the x-y coordinates of the mobile wireless device 302. Thislocation determination is accomplished by mobile location system 308,network-based location systems 310, or some combination thereof. Thelocation determination can also include the retrieval of a descriptionassociated with the x-y coordinates, such as a building name, streetaddress, or highway interchange number. Thus, at the end of step 418,wireless service provider 304 knows the x-y coordinate location of themobile wireless device 302, along with a description of the x-ycoordinate location, if applicable.

Given the x-y coordinates, in step 420, altitude processor 312 ofwireless service provider 304 measures a transmission metric associatedwith the mobile wireless device 302. In a first embodiment, thistransmission metric is the time that a wireless signal takes to travelfrom mobile wireless device 302 to a wireless signal receiver ofwireless service provider 304. Taking the skyscraper example of FIG. 5,the time for a wireless signal to travel from a mobile wireless device302 located on the eightieth floor of building 510 to wireless signalreceiver 500 would be measured as T3′.

In a second embodiment, the transmission metric is the angle of arrivalof a wireless signal from the mobile wireless device 302. Consideringthe example of FIG. 6, the angle at which a wireless signal is receivedfrom a mobile wireless device 302 on the fortieth floor of building 600would be measured as θ′.

Thus, at the end of step 420, wireless service provider 304 has the x-ycoordinates of the mobile wireless device 302, as well as a measuredtransmission metric associated with the mobile wireless device 302. Instep 422, altitude processor 312 looks up the given x-y coordinates inaltitude database 314. In the exemplary table 700 of FIG. 7, altitudeprocessor 312 would search the x-y coordinate column 702.

After locating the appropriate x-y coordinate entry in altitude database314, in step 424, altitude processor 312 looks in the entry for thetransmission metric that was measured in step 420 (or a value that issubstantial equivalent to the measured transmission metric, e.g., withinsome acceptable range of measuring error). After locating the metric, instep 426, altitude processor 312 retrieves the altitude associated withthe metric. Thus, for example, referring to FIG. 7, given coordinateX2,Y2 and metric T2′, altitude processor 312 would retrieve the altitudeZ2′.

Optionally, in step 426, if a description has been associated with theretrieved altitude in altitude database 314, then altitude processor 312retrieves that description as well. Continuing the previous example,altitude processor 312 would retrieve the description “Route 1,” whichis associated with altitude Z2′. This description correlates thealtitude to the actual physical structure or topography located at thegiven x-y coordinates. For example, a person trying to find a mobilewireless device that is located in a building would understand thedescription “10^(th) floor” better than the altitude of one hundredfeet.

As the final step of altitude determination phase 402, wireless serviceprovider 304 reports the three-dimensional location of the mobilewireless device 302 to location requestor 306 in step 428. Thisthree-dimensional location includes the x-y coordinates, the altitude,and descriptions of the x-y coordinates and altitude, if applicable.

As one of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate, implementations ofthe present invention must take into consideration the resolutioncapabilities of the systems and equipment used to determine the x-ycoordinate location and the transmission metric of the mobile wirelessdevice. Ideally, location systems 308 and 310 would be able to determinex-y coordinates with an error of less than one foot in either the x or ydirection. This level of accuracy would ensure that a measureddifference in transmission metric (e.g., time) is attributable to achange in altitude, rather than an error in the x-y coordinates (i.e.,an error range in the x-y plane). For example, if, because of thelimited accuracy of the location systems 308 and 310, the mobilewireless device could be found anywhere within a 4000 square foot areaof the reported x-y coordinates, then the measured transmission metric(e.g., time or angle of arrival) could vary over the 4000 square footarea even though the altitude is the same. The difference in themeasured transmission metric could therefore be mistaken for a differentaltitude. Thus, location systems 308 and 310 preferably have accuraciesthat minimize this effect.

Similarly, one of ordinary skill in the art would also appreciate thatthe equipment used to measure the transmission metric should besensitive enough to measure differences between mobile wireless devicestransmitting at different altitudes. For example, measuring equipmentlocated at a base station one mile away from the x-y coordinates shouldbe sensitive enough to distinguish between the differences intransmission time or angle between two different altitudes. In this way,for example, the equipment would be able to measure the time oftransmission from one floor of a building as different duration (e.g.,one nanosecond longer) than the transmission time from the next floorup. Of course, the desired accuracy of the altitude determination isalso a factor. If a user merely needs to know whether a mobile wirelessdevice is located in the bottom half or top half of a tall building,then a greater error factor in the measured transmission metric could betolerated.

To compensate for limited accuracy of x-y coordinate determinations andto resolve ambiguities in measured transmission metrics, an embodimentof the present invention determines altitude using more than onetransmission metric. For example, both transmission time and angle ofarrival could be measured and cross-referenced to an altitude in an x-ycoordinate entry of the altitude database.

FIG. 8 illustrates this method of error correction. As shown, a wirelesssignal receiver 800 is measuring transmission metrics for a first floor802 and a second floor 804 of a building 806. Area 808 represents theerror range of the x-y coordinate location system. In other words, whenthe location system reports x-y coordinates corresponding to building806, a mobile wireless device could be located anywhere within area 808(which is, for example, a 4000 square foot area). Likewise, the locationsystem would report the x-y coordinates responding to building 806 for amobile wireless device transmitting from floor 802 or 804 anywherewithin the areas 812 and 814, respectively.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, if time of transmission is used as thetransmission metric, then it is possible to measure the same time formobile wireless devices that are on different floors (i.e., at differentaltitudes). For example, relative to wireless signal receiver 800, apoint 816 on near side of floor 802 might be the same distance away as apoint 818 on the far side of floor 804. Therefore, the time oftransmission T would be the same at these two different altitudes (i.e.,floors). However, measuring the angle of arrival in addition to thetransmission time solves this problem. For example, if the angle ofarrival is determined to be angle α, then it could be determined thatthe mobile wireless device is located on floor 802 at point 816, and noton floor 804 at point 818.

As another way to compensate for limited x-y coordinate accuracy and toresolve ambiguities in measured transmission metrics, another embodimentof the present invention determines altitude using more than onewireless signal receiver. In other words, a first transmission metric ismeasured between the mobile wireless device and a first wireless signalreceiver, and a second transmission metric is measured between themobile wireless device and a second wireless signal receiver.

FIG. 9 illustrates this method for increasing accuracy. As shown, thisexample assumes that a reported x-y coordinate location has a resolutionequal to the footprint of building 900. That is, a mobile wirelessdevice determined to be at the x-y coordinates of building 900 could belocated anywhere within the footprint of building 900. Measuring atransmission time T9 from a first wireless signal receiver 902 wouldtherefore reveal that the mobile wireless device could be anywhere alongarc 904 over the footprint of building 900. Measuring anothertransmission time T9′ from a second wireless signal receiver 906dramatically reduces the number of possible locations of the mobilewireless device, by showing that the mobile wireless device must bealong another arc 908. The intersections 910 of arcs 904 and 908represent the possible altitudes of the mobile wireless device.Introducing additional measured transmission times from other wirelesssignal receivers would further reduce the number of possible altitudesof mobile wireless device and further increase accuracy.

Although, for clarity, FIG. 9 illustrates the wireless transmissions intwo dimensions, it should be understood that the described concepts canbe extrapolated to three dimensional implementations, e.g., instead ofarc 904, the possible locations of the mobile wireless device would beanywhere along the portion of the surface of a sphere that is over thefootprint of building 900. The intersection of two spheres would be acircle or a portion of a circle along which the mobile wireless devicecould be located.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, instead ofreceiving only an x-y coordinate location, altitude processor 312 (seeFIG. 3) receives a complete x-y-z coordinate location. Some globalpositioning systems provide this capability. Thus, it is unnecessary foraltitude processor 312 to measure a transmission metric to determine thealtitude of a wireless mobile device. However, in most instances, thez-coordinate (altitude) reported by the location system will not beeasily comprehendible to users such as emergency dispatchers. Thus, inthis alternative embodiment, although altitude processor 312 does notmeasure transmission metrics, altitude processor 312 still looks up thereported altitude in the altitude database 314 to find a correspondingordinary description such as “second floor.” Altitude database 314associates x-y coordinates with altitudes and descriptions.

The foregoing disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the presentinvention has been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed. Many variations andmodifications of the embodiments described herein will be apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art in light of the above disclosure. Thescope of the invention is to be defined only by the claims appendedhereto, and by their equivalents.

Further, in describing representative embodiments of the presentinvention, the specification may have presented the method and/orprocess of the present invention as a particular sequence of steps.However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on theparticular order of steps set forth herein, the method or process shouldnot be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. As one ofordinary skill in the art would appreciate, other sequences of steps maybe possible. Therefore, the particular order of the steps set forth inthe specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims.In addition, the claims directed to the method and/or process of thepresent invention should not be limited to the performance of theirsteps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readilyappreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within thespirit and scope of the present invention.

1-25. (canceled)
 26. A method for determining wireless signaltransmission metrics for use with a wireless device comprising:identifying x-y coordinate locations that could have multiple altitudes;collecting altitude data for an identified x-y coordinate location;storing the altitude data for the identified x-y coordinate location ina database; and determining a plurality of wireless signal transmissionmetrics, wherein at least one wireless signal transmission metric iscorrelated to a specific altitude within the altitude data.
 27. Themethod of claim 26 further comprising: receiving a transmission signalfrom the wireless device; applying at least one of the plurality ofwireless signal transmission metrics to the received transmissionsignal; and determining the altitude of the wireless device.
 28. Themethod of claim 26, wherein the at least one wireless signaltransmission metric correlated to the specific altitude is stored in thedatabase.
 29. The method of claim 26, wherein a wireless transmissionmetric is an angle of arrival for a transmission signal sent from thewireless device to a signal receiver.
 30. The method of claim 26,wherein a wireless transmission metric is a time period needed for atransmission signal to travel from the wireless device to a signalreceiver.
 31. The method of claim 30, wherein time is measured using aTime-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) cellular system.
 32. The method ofclaim 30, wherein time is measured using a TDMA based Global System forMobile Communications (GSM).
 33. The method of claim 26, wherein thedatabase resides in a Mobile Switching Center (MSC).
 34. Acomputer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which whenexecuted performs a method for determining wireless signal transmissionmetrics for use with a wireless device, the method executed by the setof instructions comprising: identifying x-y coordinate locations thatcould have multiple altitudes; collecting altitude data for anidentified x-y coordinate location; storing the altitude data for theidentified x-y coordinate location in a database; and determining aplurality of wireless signal transmission metrics, wherein at least onewireless signal transmission metric is correlated to a specific altitudewithin the altitude data.
 35. The computer-readable medium of claim 34further comprising: receiving a transmission from the wireless device;applying at least one of the plurality of wireless signal transmissionmetrics to the received transmission; and determining the altitude ofthe wireless device.
 36. The computer-readable medium of claim 34,wherein the at least one wireless signal transmission metric correlatedto the specific altitude is stored in the database.
 37. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 34, wherein a wireless transmissionmetric is an angle of arrival for a transmission signal sent from thewireless device to a signal receiver.
 38. The computer-readable mediumof claim 34, wherein a wireless transmission metric is a time periodneeded for a transmission signal to travel from the wireless device to asignal receiver.
 39. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, whereintime is measured using a Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) cellularsystem.
 40. The computer-readable medium of claim 38, wherein time ismeasured using a TDMA based Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM).
 41. A system for determining an altitude for a wireless devicecomprising: a location system for determining an x-y coordinate locationfor a wireless device; an altitude processor for determining thealtitude of the wireless device; and a database for storing altitudedata and transmission metrics for the x-y coordinate location.
 42. Thesystem of claim 41, wherein the location system can determine the x-ylocation using at least one of a global positioning system, signalattenuation, angle of arrival, time of arrival, time difference ofarrival, enhanced observed time of arrival, and time advance.
 43. Thesystem of claim 41, wherein the database can store location descriptiondata for a specific altitude for the x-y coordinate location.
 44. Thesystem of claim 41 further comprising a location requestor for receivingx-y coordinate location and altitude data.
 45. The system of claim 41further comprising an individual location system for use with thewireless device.